


his kiss, salvation

by crownsandbirds



Category: One Piece
Genre: Character Study, Developing Relationship, Falling In Love, Food, Kissing, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-07 16:22:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19213102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crownsandbirds/pseuds/crownsandbirds
Summary: "The open invitation of Luffy's palm is more heartwarming than it has any right to be.Law stutters, and hates himself for it. 'I-'Luffy's smile turns to kindness."lunch, the ocean, luffy's smile, and law keeps falling in love.





	his kiss, salvation

Law lost his parents too early in his life for him to be polite. 

 

He knows basic rules of interaction, obviously - but he was born with the same insufferable personality he has now, and he knows enough about human psychology to be aware that some aspects of himself won't ever change. He was taught the basics, treated people well enough to not get punished for bad behavior as a child, but he never went out of his way to be kind towards those outside of his direct family, and all that happened to him changed him solely and exclusively for the worse. If his attitude was passable before everything, after he was borderline impossible to be around at best, and downright homicidal at worst. 

 

Cora-san made him softer, in a way, polished off some of the sharp cutting edges in his heart, and then his crew made him more careful, more attentive of just how his actions and words affect those around him and, more particularly, those who care about him - one can only mindlessly snap at their crewmates in the morning for so long before realizing that doing so can end up hurting them, even if it wasn't on purpose. 

 

So, Law is - he is  _ careful _ , as he is with everything else in his life; he pays attention to people's reactions to him, sometimes unhealthily so, he fine-tunes his words and gestures to achieve the desired response from those he interacts with. He knows he doesn't have to necessarily reciprocate Bepo's frequent hugs, but it's best to accept them, lest he break his gentle, well-meaning first mate's heart. He knows Penguin and Shachi won't bother him unless they’re genuinely worried about his well-being, and so learned to cave in those situations, allow them to fuss over him for a little while - and if he even enjoys being fussed over a little bit, well, that's no one's business but his own.

 

He knows it doesn't take much at all to get on Eustass Kid’s nerves - a carefully placed smirk and a middle finger will usually do the trick and keep the savage captain of the Kid Pirates away from him, which suits Law's agenda just fine; he doesn't want any reenactment of unpleasant memories (and he has quite a handful of those associated with the man). On the other, complete opposite hand, he's been learning that no amount of cold dismissals and cutting remarks will keep the Straw Hat Pirates away. They all treat him with the same endless lightness and euphoric companionship as their captain does, as if an alliance immediately goes back to friendship - no matter how many times he rudely corrects them, they truly consider him one of the crew, under Luffy's orders just as the rest of them, someone worth protecting and watching over (and if that idea is not so bad, if he sometimes daydreams of Luffy truly ending up as Pirate King so Law can follow him, that's no one's  _ fucking _ business, and yet he suspects they know, in some unconscious, hivemind way he doesn't like thinking about).

 

Law watches them. Pays attention. He needs to make this work, somehow, needs to find a balance, straighten everything out neatly - specially after the chaos that was Dressrosa, after everything slightly resembling stability in Law's life was destroyed and turned inside out and upside down and every single thing that ever went wrong with him in his entire life was placed right on top of Strawhat's calloused hands. 

 

_ Here _ , Dressrosa told Strawhat.  _ Here's proof that Trafalgar D. Water Law is the world's most ruined human being. Do what you want with this. _

 

Luffy didn't  _ do _ anything, and that terrifies Law more than anything else in existence.

 

Law was ready for death, and death didn't come, and now he has to stand in the same deck as the man who quite literally stood up and decided Law was worth - something, anything, certainly more than most people ever thought he was - and defeated Doflamingo and  _ saved his life. _

 

Luffy looked at the very worst part of Law's despicable being, and decided that was worth saving. 

 

Law has no idea what to do with that. He has never been more lost in his entire life, and it's a painful, exhilarating, terrifying feeling. It keeps him up at night. The psychosomatic ache in his chest forces him to stare at Strawhat as if his pretty face and bright eyes have any sort of answer for the endless questions Law comes up with.  

 

Maybe they do. Law doesn't like that. Doesn't like feeling like someone else has his heart in his hands. Doesn't like knowing that it Strawhat fell in the water, Law would jump after him. 

 

_ Control freak _ , Zoro muttered once, a smirk on his lips, when Law turned down his offer of booze during one of the crew's many parties. 

 

Law just snickered at him at the time, but now that he thinks about it - 

 

" _ Torao _ !" Luffy calls out, voice travelling through the wind as he rockets himself to the deck all the way down from where he was napping on the mast. 

 

Law doesn't like thinking that he knows Luffy's habits. Doesn't like that he likes knowing. Doesn't like that he knows exactly how he sleeps because they ended up falling asleep together during Dressrosa because Law kept having panic attacks throughout the night and Luffy made it a point to hold him until he calmed down.  

 

" _ Torao _ , lunch is ready!" Strawhat says with the widest grin on his face, as if he would rather be here telling Law about Black Leg Sanji's cooking than anywhere else in the world. 

 

Law sighs. 

 

Mealtime is a problem in the Thousand Sunny.

 

In Law's own home, the Polar Tang (and  _ god _ , how terribly he misses it, the relaxing sound of her engines, the reassuring feeling of having the ocean all around him, the control room and the common area and his jolly roger on her side), mealtime is noisy and shared for those who desire that, but his crew knows their captain likes to eat alone, and so it's routine in the submarine for Law to grab his plate and go to his room and eat by himself.

 

The Strawhats don't work like that. 

 

Their meals are eventful, nearly parties in their own right. Black Leg  _ is _ a world-class chef, and the pleasure and love he puts in every single bite of food is astounding - and every member of the crew is so delighted to be there that frequently sharing a meal is the most expected time of day for them.

 

Law can smell lunch, and it makes his mouth water despite himself.

 

Luffy extends his hand towards him, still smiling, always smiling - "C'mon!"

 

He doesn't inadvertently grab Law's hand to drag him to places anymore - not after Law winced so hard at the unexpected touch he startled Luffy. But the open invitation of his palm is more heartwarming than it has any right to be. 

 

Still -

 

Law stutters, and hates himself for it. "I-"

 

Luffy's smile turns to kindness. "'s okay if you wanna eat alone."

 

For all that Nami berates her captain for being stupid, Luffy is  _ unfairly _ perceptive.

 

Law lets out a breath. "Okay."

 

Luffy wiggles the fingers on his hand open. "But at least come grab food with me! I'll even share meat with you!"

 

Law can't find anything in himself saying  _ no _ to that.

 

-

 

He eats on the deck, in the end, enjoys the flawless cooking and the bits of meat Luffy did share with him, and watches the ocean. 

 

Law doesn't like many things in his life, but he  _ lives _ for watching the ocean. It's the same everywhere, ever-changing and ever-present. It settles something uneasy inside him, eases up something hard, makes the tensed up muscles of his shoulders and back relax and his jaw unclench.

 

Luffy arrives when Law has already set his empty plate down next to him on the Sunny's soft grass. 

 

"Was it good?" he asks.

 

"Fantastic, as usual," Law answers. 

 

Luffy smiles as he throws himself down next to Law. "'m  _ glad _ . What you doing?"

 

"Watching the ocean."

 

A pleased little hum. "Yeah. 's nice. I'll show you the view from  _ my spot  _ one day," he points to the flower head of the Sunny. "Even better."

 

Law watches Luffy lying down on the grass. Tries to make some sense out of him, as he does every day. Fails, as he does every day. 

 

Luffy's fingers tiptoe closer to Law's hand.

 

"Torao," he calls softly.

 

Law raises an eyebrow, but his heartbeat is picking up, as it always does next to Luffy, as if his own heart is trying to reach out for him. 

 

"Can I hold your hand?"

 

Law's mouth goes dry. It's not the first time they do this. It never seems to make a difference. Law won't ever get used to this. 

 

He nods.

 

Luffy sits up, entwines their fingers together.

 

"Torao," he says again. "Can I kiss you?"

 

Law doesn't nod this time, just leans in and tilts his head and, with a  _ please  _ written in his parted lips and half-closed eyes, allows Luffy to cup his face and kiss him. 

 

When they part, Law is crying.

 

Luffy smiles at him gently, presses their foreheads together.

 

"You okay?" Luffy asks. There's not a single part of his voice not laced with kindness.

 

"I don't know," Law says, reaches up to furiously get rid of his tears, but Luffy takes his wrist in hand and stops him.

 

The tears in Law's face are warm. Luffy wipes them off with his thumb. Their breaths mingle and Law is a bit dizzy.

 

"'s okay," Luffy smiles. "I've got you. You're okay." 

 

"What could I have possibly done to deserve you?," Law whispers, holds Luffy more fiercely than he should.

 

Luffy shrugs, caresses Law's hair. "You're you. Kiss me again."

 

Law does.


End file.
